NSGP Online Championship 7

[Sida79]

Similarly in practise Kos was indignant at what he saw as my reckless driving, but as far as I was concerned I had behaved impeccably and in fact moved out of his way to let him pass.

Heh... sorry if I wrongly accused you but on my screen you really T-boned me and threw me off track and the T was so straight (away from the track direction) that your car ended on the grass as well, only slightly less far than mine

[przemator]

DRIVERS AND CONSTRUCTORS TABLE

[przemator]

I was looking forward to this race, knowing that both Marek and Klemen will race. First setback was Marek's connection problems. 2nd setback was the start of the race. I was stuck between my teammate and Kos so I didn't want to have a rocket start and hit Klemen, but neither did I want to get overtaken by Kos. At some point it got very crowded on the track and I was the unlucky one to go off track, getting hit by Mario. I had 50% damage, 10th place and a shltload of fuel. I continued to race like this and this may have been a bad choice. Finally, I fixed my car and began racing normally. I had a nice fight with Peter, who was faster than me but then he totally lost the pace. Than I got on Ante's back and it took me a whole lap to overtake him. These two battles sweetened the race for me, thanks Pete and Ante.

[Sida79]

Race Review

During practice yesterday I had some of my consistency but not much speedwise. It was only today that I managed to pass that turn combination near the end in a satisfying matter resulting in 44.6, .4 and even a .2 once. Quali I ******* up royally, as usual, starting as low as 5th!

I was basically sandwiched between a whole bunch of players and since 1 pit was out of the question (I would get overtaken by them all), 3 pit strategy started to look more appealing. However, that seemed like an illusion too, unless another case of madly changing weather would arise, which I doubted. 7-7-6 is my "default" strategy (or 7-14 if you like) so I knew 6 laps is tiny bit faster. I also knew damage will kill me as we've rightfully concluded intelligent driving is not to be expected So I threw caution to the wind and went for 5-7-8 (or 5-12 if you like). Right at the start I had to let go of the pedal completely as slipstream was pulling me. I was madly faster but noone would let me through. Eventually a group of players started slamming each other and I got through on the complete outside of the turn, with several guys riding near me forcing me to the "exit line" but luckily / thankfully? none of them pushing me out. Soon I was on Ribeiro's tail with 25% damaged car and was considerably faster (less fuel helped). I tried to overtake but he'd close me down (lag fight - I was not there on his screen). Finally I got so close to him that I overtook him on the start/finish and would start making a gap when he turned at me and I started recieving heavy damage. He got none so obviously I wasn't there on his screen. However, I had near 50% damage and forfitted any future overtaking attempts just riding on Ribeiro's tail instead. One moment he took the turn bad and I almost slammed him from behind (which would've been FATAL) so I let him make a little gap and drove my own race.

I stumbled upon my team-mate Frost who made a mistake (or smth?) and had let me pass in a smooth way anyone should in that case, well done anyway Unfortunately, he overdid it and slammed the brakes and fell further behind, which was not neccesary but probably on his screen it looked different? Later on he stumbled upon me while I was exiting pits and he would (should) just barely overtake me there but he let me stay in front. I don't know why, but it wasn't neccessary, maybe his tactics was to blame?

Anyway, escaping the madness at the beginning was all it mattered. Nice points for Mercedes and even me getting ahead of McLaren #1 for a moment so, nothing to complain about

[Alfonso]

Review:

Spain, a track that if i remember well, i never won here.
Q was surprisingly good even if that detail that almost no one likes showed up....RAIN!

Was a big advantage to start on pole cause of the so well knowned damage. First laps were nice but always with the threat of the Mercedes duo. On lap 5 Kos went to pit and i kept going one more lap. I was on 6+7+7! I think Lotus strategy worked better compared with the one from Mercedes.
At a certain moment something made me laugh. Someone who had been on 4th place before, decided to change to WET tires (i dont know why), for sure he lost many places after it going to something like 8th place.
The rest of the race was pretty much lonely giving me the opportunity to be able to make some small mistakes in approaching turns. On lap 13, on the lap for me to pit, the weather was threatening to change to rain and quickly the thought of guessing the weather crossed my mind but i havent done it. But who did was again the same driver from before that was driving on WETS!!! Ok, his name: Peter-Santa-Maria.
Good decision from Lotus for staying on Slicks. Race went fine until the end besides a small incident in the end of lap 19. I was approaching insanely fast to Ceraj and besides the big efforts evidenced by 2 or 3 flag guys, waving and jumping to show the blue flag, Ceraj didnt saw them causing a slight push making me go to grass a bit. No serious problem as i had a comfortable advantage, if not would be a very controversial incident.
The irony of life came when i crossed the finishing line! It started Raining!!!!! Santamaria should be still thinking why the hell did i tried to guess the weather!!??

Positive stuff:

11 players
2nd Lotus win in all history!
1st win of Ribeiro this season
1st career win on Spain for Ribeiro (if im not mistaken)
Monaco´s next!

Negative stuff:

Marek disconnected
Lotus lost the 2nd pilot, nobody knows where he is
Peter´s pace this season!! His best was 5th


Was a fun race besides sometimes being a lonely one.
I got the feeling that i wasnt the fastest guy on track but maybe pole played a big role on the win.
See you later for MONACO, my favorite track that....i have to try to win. If i can choose a track to win in the all season it would be this one, i love it!

[peter-27]

[peter-27]

For the first time EVER i had a brilliant start, coming from 11th to 4th at the end of the first lap. Delighted to see Prz go off on that opening lap as it meant i should avoid trouble for the rest of the race however at the first pit stop that's where it went wrong.

My connection is very erratic at the moment and as such i was getting about 1 frame every 3 seconds (literally having to guess where to steer) and i pulled into my pit box and the menu didn't load! After a few seconds it came up and in the confusion i pushed right too many times thus changing to wets which put me way down the order. I then had to pit for the second time in two laps to go back onto drys. Upon exiting the pits i came out just behind Prz and suprised myself by managing to make an overtake on him without getting destroyed (he ran a little off the racing line). I managed to comfortably stay ahead for a little while (still competing with lag however) but ran a little wide in one of the corners, Prz got the slipstream and you can guess what happened next.

I lost a couple of places from that and when i did rejoin the circuit i continued on my way. Then in my second stop i was so far back and i noticed the weather icon was slowly going towards rain so i decided to bung on the wet tyres once again however the rain failed to come (infact it did come but only when i finished the race) and that was the story of my race really ... on wet tyres twice despite no rain during the GP.

This season is best 15 and with 20 races i have had 5 fails so far ... the pressure is on!

[Cyrex]

Race Review by Ante Bubić

Nice turnout To bad Marek had connection issues!

I suck on quali, and had 10-th place.. When race started, I try not to get damage and avoid collisions, but I mange to get some damage but not enough to go on pit.. I saw Larsson and one lap after Kolowski with black smoke on their cars, so I manage to pass them.. I was behind PSW, and ahead of Paul.. I was quite fast, but always had a minor mistake, so Paul past me soon.. On first pit (lap 7) I was 6-th, and just few meters behind Pual.. And we drove that until second pit.. Than on lap 15, my few misatkes let Paul to make good advantage, and I was monitoring fight between PWS and Kolowski.. They were 5 seconds behind me.. Than Kolowski start racing beyond I ever seen.. He took 2-3 seconds on 2 laps and get behind me that quick.. One lap I manage to block him, but on last corner on lap 18/20 we enter in collisions and I went on sand(And I thougt I can deal with collision master ) .. After that I did a few more mistakes and finish 7-th, and on that 2 last lap Kolowski made almost 10 seconds of advantage.. I was scared watching that drive, and I'm still scared..

This afternoon I'm working until 21:00 GMT, so I'm not comming to Monaco which I like it very much..

[Sida79]

Race Review

Had ok pace but during quali I got tangled in Krz' car which severely limited my vision and I'm lucky I did not make even more serious mistakes. So a total meh lap but a solid 2nd. I went for a 3 stopper thinking I'm not gonna pass Afonso on Monaco without massive damage or at all, saying to my mate how perhaps rain will fall and I will catch a lucky break. Right at the start I get by Ribeiro and start to drive off easily... not like 3 stopper would win over 2 but hey, I did not get destroyed. Then the rain starts and I can't believe my luck (once, for a change) I pit right away. I overtank againbut don't care as it's better to be safe... Ribeiro comes to pits right after me and now he's 3 seconds behind me and barely catching up or not at all, presumingly because of my massive overtank. I was just about to bring that baby home when I disconnected... great, because, why would I be lucky when I can be sucky instead? Fail.

[peter-27]

[Alfonso]

Review:

First of all i feel sorry for Kos, its horrible to loose a race like this, happened the same with me last season on Japan where i had a clean win in sight with 5 s lead and then DC. Horrible, Kos i know how you must feel.

Got a pole even if not with a good time, small mistakes.
On race i didnt knew which tactic to use but i chose to make 6+7+7. I think i didnt had the best start and Kos and Prz were right on my tail. Kos managed to pass with just a few touchings resulting in a bit of damage to me and none to him. I tried to cach up but in the following lap i went sometimes to gravel making the turns before tunnel. Kos was going away but i also knew that he would pit earlier and was in a different fuel tactic so i kept believing it.
Sudently started to rain at the perfect time to Kos, lap 10 i think. 500m to enter to pit and i still didnt knew what to do. make 5+5 or 10 laps. I entered on pit with a blank in my brain. I tanked until half and changed to wets and hoped to the best! On the time i was leaving pit, the polish guy (the one that normally pushes people out of track on purpose) hit me (or we hit each other) making me damage on my car just before leaving pit! I thought, fight for 1st is over. And it would be if it wasnt the disconnection of mr Kos. I thought he run out of fuel but no, his car was smoking heavily. Engine failure for sure it was!
On lap 17 i had to put fuel again and decided to change tires also. I didnt realized that prz was so close otherwise i wouldnt have changed tires. He was on my tail making pressure and reaching very close but i kept my nerves and drove the lotus car for a second win in a row on the season and a 3rd win all time!

Positive:

quite some guys
2nd win in a row (i need to catch up with the leaders)
3rd win all time from Lotus team (they are delighted)
Chang there (an Icon in what Monaco concerns after his fight with Frost on season 5)
Race winner unpredictable until the end, suspense
Championship is more then alive. Very competitive, nice....
Strong update is on the way! Stay tuned for more news

Negative:

Kos disconnect (he would have win but...there are no moral wins! )
Marek disconnect
Santa network problems
No recording of race
Missing some core players, mellor, bubich, alex, ....
Lotus defenitly lost his 2nd driver! Replacement needed to be able to fight for at least 2nd place as 1st is almost for sure going to Mercedes!

Was nice and im double satisfied for the win and because it was on my favorite track, Monaco!
See you guys next week for more fun.

[przemator]

For results click my signature.

First of all, I feel sorry for Kos who was unlucky to be the only person to get d/c during the race (Marek quit after putting on bad tyres).

As for the race, after 8 laps I came into pits and was watching the weather bar carefully. It was a 50:50 situation and I put dry tyres. 10 seconds later it started raining. If I put wets, I would have won . After 1 lap I come back to pits and put wet tyres, then put some fuel, then a bit more and then some. Miraculously I put the exact amount needed to get to the finish. Later I spotted a burning car and I thought: Chang? No, it was Kos. Afonso did not put as much fuel as me and he had to pit. He came out of the pits right in front of me and even though I tried, I could not overtake him during last 4 laps.

So, partially I feel bad because of my bad choice, but I also know that in the end I was better off than Kos.

As for the championship, me, Kos and Afonso all have 2 wins and Rob has an amazing podium streak, but with no wins he will start losing points when we cross 15th race barrier. Afonso is back! I don't know if I should be happy or sad .

[Sida79]

Thanks for the moral support guys :*

Maybe Mercedes can do it if I can't. Still feel best "xy" sucks

[redmelons]

I enjoyed the race at Spain - having damage on introduces another element to think about (for those who don't qualify on the front row )

However, as Sida79 commented, having damage on does require more intelligent driving, and a realisation that races are not won by a mad dash to the first corner. Starting in the middle of the pack I hang back from the front runners, but this means I have to hope that the guys behind have also got the sense to stay back from me. You can then wait until the field spreads out to attempt overtaking. Everybody hurtling into the first couple of turns just resulted in a lot of smoking cars.

[Alfonso]

I enjoyed the race at Spain - having damage on introduces another element to think about (for those who don't qualify on the front row )

However, as Sida79 commented, having damage on does require more intelligent driving, and a realisation that races are not won by a mad dash to the first corner. Starting in the middle of the pack I hang back from the front runners, but this means I have to hope that the guys behind have also got the sense to stay back from me. You can then wait until the field spreads out to attempt overtaking. Everybody hurtling into the first couple of turns just resulted in a lot of smoking cars.

Agreed. But slowly i start to believe that the way some persons drive starts to change with damage on. It goes slowly but goes in some way. Its nice. I guess every change needs a period of time to get adapted. Hopefully in the beginning of the next season everyone knows how to drive with damage on, with respect towards the opponents.
If not, i already decided that i will vote for no collision next season. We never tried it before so....maybe there´s less frustration and we really can see who´s the fastest driver.

EDIT: With this post i just passed the door of the beast! Now im on his neighbor!